London exhibition in focus: Entertaining the Nation, the Jewish Museum

The Entertaining the Nation exhibition at the Jewish Museum, LondonPhoto: The Jewish Museum

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Shown for the first time, the gold lamé suit worn by Marc Bolan of T-RexPhoto: The Jewish Museum

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London musician Amy Winehouse is one of the stars featured in the exhibitionPhoto: Getty

By Rickie Burman, Director of the Jewish Museum

10:44AM BST 12 Aug 2011

The Entertaining the Nation: Stars of Music, Stage & Screen exhibition at the Jewish Museum is a chronological narrative of how and why waves of Jewish immigrants to the UK have given so fully and so uncompromisingly to all aspects of British popular culture. Divided into three distinct themes - Making Music, Stage and Screen and Behind the Scenes - the exhibition is a multi-sensory experience for both adults and children, revealing how and why British Jews have been intertwined with the entertainment industry for well over a century.

Jewish people have married, rather harmoniously, creativity and business, which has helped to propell members of a small minority group into the stratosphere of British entertainment and celebrity. The exhibition addresses genuinely thought-provoking issues such as: how have media representations of Jews and other minorities changed over time and how do they shape the public imagination? How have their backgrounds and experiences helped to shape British entertainment? What attitudes do Jews in the entertainment industry have to their own ethnicity and how is this reflected in their work?

So how do we do it? Entertaining the Nation catalogues the creative journey that started with East End Yiddish Theatre and Victorian Music Halls, and will end with, well, we simply don’t know. The media moves scarily yet impressively quickly. But the influence of Jewish entertainers and business-minded moguls remains constant and the exhibition reflects this, with all decades and each medium represented by outstanding Jewish entertainers.

Visitors have plenty of opportunities to prove their assumed knowledge – yes, they knew David Baddiel and Maureen Lipman were Jewish. Oh, and Michael Grade and Harold Pinter. And Sacha Baron Cohen. And Ron Moody from the original Oliver! film. But they are also rewarded with the unfamiliar: Confronted, at the very start of the exhibition, with the infamous gold lamé suit worn by Marc Bolan of T-Rex fame (on display for the first time), visitors are wowed by the iconic item, but also by the fact that they never knew Marc Bolan was Jewish. The gasps of “I never knew….” are repeated as they move through a who’s who of British pop music, including Malcolm McClaren of Sex Pistols fame. And from the world of film, none other than Sid James! Yes, another Jew you never knew. And there are many more to unveil in the exhibition.

Also on show is a striking portrait of the late, great Amy Winehouse, who tragically died on July 23. Amy was very much a part of Entertaining the Nation from our early planning stages, as we wanted to look at a new wave of British entertainers who were storming the music scene and penetrating British popular culture. We celebrate the fact that she didn’t hide her Jewish-sounding name and identity, unlike many of her predecessors who chose to suppress their heritage as a response to perceived prejudices against Jewish people.

The levels of creativity and unbridled passion for music, theatre and film from Jewish entertainers has been complemented by key figures with business acumen and nous that have supported and driven the creativity to the next level of success and accessibility. Brian Epstein was the powerhouse behind the Beatles, and Oscar Deutsch used his considerable business capabilities to grow the Odeon cinema chain so rapidly (in 1933, he owned 26 cinemas, by 1937 this rose to 250).

But don’t think be fooled into thinking that Entertaining the Nation is simply a celeb-spotting exercise. We name check to a certain extent because we are spoiled with so many high-profile creative individuals. However, more importantly, we unearth the influences of Jewish heritage and culture on Britain’s entertainment industry and position the cultural importance of immigration and diversity as a source for cultural creativity in Britain.